◄ 1 Samuel 17:33 ►
But Saul replied, "You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth."
Study Bible
But Saul replied
Saul, the first king of Israel, was chosen by God but later rejected due to disobedience. His reply reflects his role as a leader concerned for the safety of his people. This interaction occurs during a time when Israel was frequently at war with the Philistines, a neighboring people known for their military prowess and advanced weaponry.

You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him.
The Philistine in question is Goliath, a giant warrior challenging the Israelites. Saul's statement underscores the perceived impossibility of David's success against such a formidable opponent. This reflects a common biblical theme where human limitations are contrasted with divine possibilities, as seen in other scriptures like Zechariah 4:6, "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord Almighty.

You are just a boy,
David was likely a teenager at this time, tending sheep and not yet a seasoned warrior. His youth and inexperience are highlighted to emphasize the miraculous nature of his eventual victory. This echoes the biblical motif of God using the unlikely and the humble to achieve His purposes, as seen with Joseph, Moses, and even Jesus, who was born in humble circumstances.

and he has been a warrior from his youth.
Goliath's experience as a warrior from a young age contrasts sharply with David's inexperience. This detail emphasizes the natural advantage Goliath had, making David's victory all the more remarkable. It also foreshadows the New Testament teaching that spiritual battles are not won by human strength but by faith and reliance on God, as seen in Ephesians 6:10-18, which speaks of the armor of God.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Saul
The first king of Israel, chosen by God but later rejected due to disobedience. At this point, Saul is leading Israel against the Philistines.

2. David
A young shepherd boy, later anointed as the future king of Israel. He is known for his faith in God and his courage.

3. Goliath
A giant Philistine warrior who challenges the Israelites to send a champion to fight him. He represents the formidable enemy of God's people.

4. The Philistines
A recurring enemy of Israel, often representing opposition to God's plans and people.

5. The Valley of Elah
The location where the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines takes place.
Teaching Points
God's Perspective vs. Human Perspective
Saul sees David's youth and inexperience, but God sees David's heart and faith. We should seek God's perspective in our own lives and in others.

Faith Over Fear
David's willingness to face Goliath is a testament to his faith in God. We are called to trust God in the face of daunting challenges.

God Equips the Called
David's past experiences as a shepherd prepared him for this moment. God often uses our past to equip us for future challenges.

Youth and Potential
David's account reminds us not to underestimate the potential of young people. God can use anyone, regardless of age, for His purposes.

Courage in Obedience
David's courage is rooted in his obedience to God. True courage comes from aligning our actions with God's will.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Saul's response to David reflect common human tendencies to judge by outward appearances? How can we apply this understanding in our interactions with others?

2. In what ways does David's faith challenge us to trust God in our own "Goliath" situations? Can you think of a personal situation where you need to apply this faith?

3. How do David's past experiences as a shepherd prepare him for his encounter with Goliath? Reflect on how God might be using your past experiences for His purposes.

4. What lessons can we learn from David's youth and how God used him despite his age? How can this influence our view of young people in the church today?

5. How does the account of David and Goliath connect with the New Testament teaching on strength and reliance on God, such as in Philippians 4:13? How can this connection encourage us in our daily walk with Christ?
Connections to Other Scriptures
1 Samuel 16
This chapter provides context for David's anointing by Samuel, indicating God's choice of David despite his youth and inexperience.

Psalm 23
Written by David, this psalm reflects his deep trust in God, which is evident in his willingness to face Goliath.

Philippians 4:13
This verse speaks to the strength believers find in Christ, paralleling David's reliance on God's power rather than his own.

1 Timothy 4:12
Paul encourages Timothy not to let anyone look down on him because of his youth, similar to David's situation with Saul.
Sermons
Three Victories in One DayB. Dale 1 Samuel 17:29, 37-39, 45-47
Faith's Argument from ExperienceB. Dale 1 Samuel 17:32-37
People
Abinadab, Abner, David, Elah, Eliab, Ephah, Goliath, Israelites, Jesse, Saul, Shammah
Places
Azekah, Bethlehem, Ekron, Ephes-dammim, Gath, Jerusalem, Shaaraim, Socoh, Valley of Elah
Topics
Able, Boy, David, Earliest, Fight, Fighting, Philistine, Replied, Saul, War, Warrior, Youth
Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Samuel 17:33

     5669   children, examples
     5716   middle age
     5746   youth
     5853   experience, of life
     5887   inexperience

1 Samuel 17:20-51

     5658   boys

1 Samuel 17:32-47

     8024   faith, and blessings

1 Samuel 17:32-54

     5086   David, rise of

Library
The victory of Unarmed Faith
'And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock; 35. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

April the Thirtieth the Test of victory
"David behaveth himself wisely." --1 SAMUEL xvii. 55--xviii. 5. The hour of victory is a more severe moral test than the hour of defeat. Many a man can brave the perils of adversity who succumbs to the seductions of prosperity. He can stand the cold better than the heat! He is enriched by failure, but "spoilt by success." To test the real quality of a man, let us regard him just when he has slain Goliath! "David behaved himself wisely"! He was not "eaten up with pride." He developed no "side." …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

April the Twenty-Ninth the Mood of Triumph
"I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts." --1 SAMUEL xvii. 38-54. The man who comes up to his foes with this assurance will fight and win. Reasonable confidence is one of the most important weapons in the warrior's armoury. Fear is always wasteful. The man who calmly expects to win has already begun to conquer. Our mood has so much to do with our might. And therefore does the Word of God counsel us to attend to our dispositions, lest, having carefully collected our material implements, …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Call of David.
"So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone."--1 Samuel xvii. 50. These words, which are taken from the chapter which you heard read just now in the course of the Service[1], declare the victory which David, the man after God's own heart, gained over Goliath, who came out of the army of the Philistines to defy the Living God; and they declare the manner of his gaining it. He gained it with a sling and with a stone; that is, by means, which to man might seem weak and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

How David Prevailed.
"So David prevailed over the Philistine!"--1 SAMUEL xvii. 50. Yes, he did, but he would not have done so if he had remained as quiet as the other Israelites. David was one of those who could not be easy so long as the enemies of his country were in the ascendant. To see a Philistine strutting about, defying the armies of the living God, was more than he could bear. Is not this the spirit which should animate Christians to-day? It is not one GOLIATH merely, there are many. DRUNKENNESS, PROFANITY, …
Thomas Champness—Broken Bread

Knox -- the First Temptation of Christ
John Knox, the great Scottish reformer, was born at Giffordgate, four miles from Haddington, Scotland, in 1505. He first made his appearance as a preacher in Edinburgh, where he thundered against popery, but was imprisoned and sent to the galleys in 1546. In 1547 Edward VI secured his release and made him a royal chaplain, when he acquired the friendship of Cranmer and other reformers. On the accession of Mary (1553) he took refuge on the Continent. In 1556 he accepted the charge of a church in Geneva, …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume I

Hwochow Women's Bible Training School
COURSE OF STUDY FIRST TERM Book of Genesis. Gospel according to St. Luke or St. Mark. Acts of the Apostles, chapters i. to ix. "A Synopsis of the Central Themes of the Holy Bible." Reading Lessons, with necessary Explanation and Writing of Chinese Character. Arithmetic. Singing and Memorisation of Hymns. SECOND TERM Book of Exodus, Numbers, and 1 Samuel i. to xvi. The Gospel according to St. John. The Epistle of St James. "A Synopsis of the Central Themes of the Holy Bible"--(continued). Reading …
A. Mildred Cable—The Fulfilment of a Dream of Pastor Hsi's

He Does Battle for the Faith; He Restores Peace among those who were at Variance; He Takes in Hand to Build a Stone Church.
57. (32). There was a certain clerk in Lismore whose life, as it is said, was good, but his faith not so. He was a man of some knowledge in his own eyes, and dared to say that in the Eucharist there is only a sacrament and not the fact[718] of the sacrament, that is, mere sanctification and not the truth of the Body. On this subject he was often addressed by Malachy in secret, but in vain; and finally he was called before a public assembly, the laity however being excluded, in order that if it were …
H. J. Lawlor—St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Life of St. Malachy of Armagh

The Shepherd-King
'And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt them mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel! fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided Me a king among his sons. 2. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. 3. And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Temporal Advantages.
"We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."--1 Tim. vi. 7, 8. Every age has its own special sins and temptations. Impatience with their lot, murmuring, grudging, unthankfulness, discontent, are sins common to men at all times, but I suppose one of those sins which belongs to our age more than to another, is desire of a greater portion of worldly goods than God has given us,--ambition and covetousness …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Quotation in Matt. Ii. 6.
Several interpreters, Paulus especially, have asserted that the interpretation of Micah which is here given, was that of the Sanhedrim only, and not of the Evangelist, who merely recorded what happened and was said. But this assertion is at once refuted when we consider the object which Matthew has in view in his entire representation of the early life of Jesus. His object in recording the early life of Jesus is not like that of Luke, viz., to communicate historical information to his readers. …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Blessing of Jacob Upon Judah. (Gen. Xlix. 8-10. )
Ver. 8. "Judah, thou, thy brethren shall praise thee; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; before thee shall bow down the sons of thy father. Ver. 9. A lion's whelp is Judah; from the prey, my son, thou goest up; he stoopeth down, he coucheth as a lion, and as a full-grown lion, who shall rouse him up? Ver. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto Him the people shall adhere." Thus does dying Jacob, in announcing …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners:
A BRIEF AND FAITHFUL RELATION OF THE EXCEEDING MERCY OF GOD IN CHRIST TO HIS POOR SERVANT, JOHN BUNYAN; WHEREIN IS PARTICULARLY SHOWED THE MANNER OF HIS CONVERSION, HIS SIGHT AND TROUBLE FOR SIN, HIS DREADFUL TEMPTATIONS, ALSO HOW HE DESPAIRED OF GOD'S MERCY, AND HOW THE LORD AT LENGTH THROUGH CHRIST DID DELIVER HIM FROM ALL THE GUILT AND TERROR THAT LAY UPON HIM. Whereunto is added a brief relation of his call to the work of the ministry, of his temptations therein, as also what he hath met with …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Man's Chief End
Q-I: WHAT IS THE CHIEF END OF MAN? A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. Here are two ends of life specified. 1: The glorifying of God. 2: The enjoying of God. I. The glorifying of God, I Pet 4:4: That God in all things may be glorified.' The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. I Cor 10:01. Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial; …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
1 Samuel 17:33 NIV
1 Samuel 17:33 NLT
1 Samuel 17:33 ESV
1 Samuel 17:33 NASB
1 Samuel 17:33 KJV

1 Samuel 17:33 Commentaries

Bible Hub
1 Samuel 17:32
Top of Page
Top of Page